With the increasing popularity of wine as a dinner drink, the problem of automatically dispensing wine in a large number of servings such as in a restaurant operation at uniform wine serving temperatures, is a problem to which considerable attention need be given. In restaurant operations, a large number of servings of wine may be dispensed over a very short period of time during peak demand. Alternately, only a very few servings may be needed over periods of lesser demand. However, it is desirable that the wine be served at a desirable wine serving temperature regardless of the time interval over which it is dispensed.
Heretofore, wine has been served mainly from a bottle or from a large container into an individual serving container such as a wine glass. Small barrels, plastic bags in boxes, and other containers have been utilized to dispense wine by means of an on-off valve. However, a serving temperature of between forty and fifty degrees (F.) is best for the serving and drinking of most wines.
Refrigerated systems without sophisticated controls reduce the wine to a temperature which is too cold for serving. Elaborate and expensive controls for the refrigeration unit would be required to dispense wine chilled only to a proper wine serving temperature in the range of forty to fifty degrees (F.). If wine is left in a refrigerated system without controls for a sufficient period of time and not drawn out, it will reach a refrigerated temperature of 32 to 34 degrees (F.). This is too cold for the wine to be served at its best drinking temperature for taste.
To provide the controls necessary for chilling the wine in the refrigeration system to a temperature range of 42 to 48 degrees (F.) would render the apparatus too costly and complicated for the purposes herein.
Accordingly, an important object of the present invention is to provide simplified apparatus for automatically dispensing wine at a predetermined wine serving temperature.
Still another important object of the present invention is to provide apparatus and method for dispensing wine at a predetermined wine serving temperature which does not require elaborate control of the refrigeration system.
Still another important object of the present invention is to provide apparatus and a method for dispensing wine at uniform wine serving temperatures in a restaurant and the like commercial operation in which a large number of servings of wine are dispensed over both short and long periods of time.
Still another important object of the present invention is to provide apparatus and method for dispensing wine wherein a metered amount of room temperature wine is mixed with refrigerated wine in response to the opening of a wine dispensing valve to dispense wine at predetermined uniform wine serving temperatures regardless of the number of servings or length of the time period during which the servings are dispensed.